SheConnects Digital Accelerator Africa has officially launched its second funding round, titled “Partnerships for Women’s Digital Empowerment at Scale.” The SheConnects Digital Accelerator: Africa aims to scale proven, high-impact solutions that enable women and girls to participate fully in the digital world, improving their lives and livelihoods. By catalyzing innovative partnerships and use cases in Sub-Saharan Africa.
The Accelerator will strengthen evidence on what works, foster south-to-south learning, and help shape a more inclusive global digital ecosystem. The Accelerator’s initiatives in Sub-Saharan Africa are managed by CARE and the GSMA Foundation with support from the Gates Foundation.
Managed through a strategic collaboration between CARE and the GSMA Foundation, with cornerstone support from the Gates Foundation, this initiative is actively seeking ambitious, scalable, and women-centered digital solutions. The program intends to identify and fund proven frameworks that can rapidly expand, helping women and girls participate fully and safely in the global digital economy.
In Round 1, CARE partnered with four African organizations to advance meaningful digital adoption and use of the internet for women – strengthening lives and livelihoods – while influencing digital ecosystems through evidence and learning.
2. Purpose and Objectives
The purpose of this RFA is to identify and support organizations that are well positioned to implement and scale approaches that expand women’s meaningful access to and use of digital technologies to support better health, education, and agriculture/livelihood outcomes for women – and their families and communities.
Program Benefits
Selected organizations and consortia will access a transformative suite of resources engineered to maximize their regional footprint and operational capacity:
Transformative Capital Injection: Grant allocations ranging from USD 500,000 to USD 1 Million provide full financial runway to deploy solutions widely without the burden of repayment.
Extended Implementation Runway: A generous 18-month project timeline gives teams ample space to localize, deploy, iterate, and stabilize their platforms in diverse markets.
South-South Knowledge Sharing: Awardees enter an elite cohort network, fostering deep peer-to-peer learning, technology cross-pollination, and collaborative strategy sharing between innovators in Africa and India.
Global Credibility & Validation: Backed by global heavyweights like CARE and the Gates Foundation, participating organizations elevate their institutional profiles, opening doors to future international funding and long-term policy partnerships.
Eligibility Criteria
To ensure that funds are directed toward teams capable of handling rapid institutional scaling, applicants must meet the following baseline requirements:
Organization Type: Eligible applicants include non-profit organizations, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), civil society organizations, community-based organizations, mission-driven for-profit enterprises, academic institutions, and structured collaborative partnerships or consortia.
Geographic Focus: The proposed initiative must be implemented entirely within Sub-Saharan Africa.
Exclusions: Government agencies, multilateral or bilateral organizations, and individual applicants are strictly ineligible to apply as prime or lead applicants.
Application Limit: To maintain a competitive and focused pool, organizations may submit only one single application as the lead entity.
Target Scale and Capability: Applicants must present a credible, verifiable pathway demonstrating how their digital solution will reach and positively impact at least 50,000 women users within the 18-month implementation window.
Operational Focus
The accelerator prioritizes projects that blend clear technological innovation with rigorous, measurable human impact. Review committees will look closely for initiatives integrating women-centered design, safe and inclusive digital participation, and responsible AI frameworks.
Funds are intended to expand active digital ecosystems. Consequently, the program will not fund infrastructure-only or equipment-only projects, standalone digital literacy curriculum development, or customer acquisition campaigns that lack clear, measurable outcomes in health, livelihoods, or education.
How to Apply
Interested Applicants should download the full program guidelines using the Link provided 👉 Here
applicants can proceed to input the required application information details and supporting documents using this Link 👉 Here
Application Deadline: July 8, 2026 submissionTime: 11:59 PM EDT
expected Results Notification: Mid-August 2026
anticipated Project Commencement: January 2027
detailed compliance documents, technical evaluation criteria, and the electronic submission portal can be accessed directly at www.care.org/scdaccelerator.
